Best Movie for Grownups

En español | America had a century or so to make the definitive movie about slavery, but it took the British-born team of director Steve McQueen and star Chiwetel Ejiofor to finally do it. The true story of a free black man sold into slavery in the years before the Civil War manages to crystalize the diabolical combination of savage brutality and condescending paternalism that sustained America's Original Sin. Through sheer artistry, it remains a beautifully realized film.

We invested in Dern in the 1970s, when his brooding performances in such movies as Coming Home held Brando-class promise for his career. Now, with his turn as a cranky, determined fellow who is convinced he's won a million dollars, Dern, 77, finally pays that 40-year-old dividend.

She's never less than brilliant, but this time — as a woman seeking the son she was forced to give up — Dame Judi, 79, takes our breath away. Wronged by the world at every turn, her Philomena is fierce, innocent and, it turns out, a better person than we may ever hope to be.

As the good-natured but picked-upon husband of a domineering wife (Margo Martindale), Cooper, 62, brings a refreshing breeze of humanity to a cast of characters whose chief family value seems to be an enduring disdain for each other.

Best Supporting Actress

Easy to forget that the talk show queen, 59, has already been an Oscar-nominated actress (The Color Purple), but her searing performance as the conflicted wife of a career White House butler (Forest Whitaker) is all the reminder we need.

2013 Top 10 Movies

Best Director

In the exquisite opening scene, the Mexican-born director, 52, confirms every would-be astronaut's dreams of the tranquil romance of space. One mind-bending disaster scene later, he has those potential space cowboys asking, "What, was I crazy?"

Best Screenwriter

We’ve hung in there with this couple (Delpy and Hawke) for three movies spanning 20 years. Now in middle age with two daughters, they ask each other the inevitable deep questions about love, commitment, and the wax and wane of each. Their conversations are so heartfelt they seem improvised; so ingeniously constructed they should be required reading.

Best Intergenerational Film

David (Will Forte) is willing to suffer his insufferable dad (Bruce Dern) in the hope of having one warm moment with him. When the moment finally comes it’s far from a sentimental gusher, but you’ll find yourself choking back a tear all the same.

Best Grownup Love Story

Middle-age love arrives at your door with a baggage cart, and that's what makes this rom-com starring Julia Louis-Dreyfus and the late, great James Gandolfini so darned irresistible. Mismatched in every way, their characters yell, laugh, cry and throw emotional haymakers. It's all part of burrowing through the strata of their lives and finding there's gold there.

Best Foreign Film

Writer/director Gilles Bourdos' lush telling of the last years of the impressionist painter Pierre-Auguste Renoir — and the early years of his son, the film director Jean — is as painterly as its elder protagonist.

Breakthrough Accomplishment

She's already won an Oscar and is one of TV's most welcome faces; now, for her role as an aspiring Vegas lounge singer, Steenburgen, 60, reveals herself to be a first-rate vocalist (and she even wrote her own song).

Foursome Fun

Best Buddy Picture

At first glance, writer Dan Fogelman's tale of four old pals meeting up in Vegas seems like superficial fun; by the end, it's a surprisingly thoughtful look at the profound importance of lifelong friendship.

Best Movie for Grownups Who Refuse to Grow Up

Walt Disney's efforts to woo Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers into selling him the rights to her now so-well-known children's story makes for a fascinating film and conjures up memories of our own childhood movie experiences. In revealing Mary's roots in P.L.'s own early years, it also savvily reminds us that even when we've grown up, the child we were in the past is never far from the surface.

In the next 24 hours, you will receive an email to confirm your subscription to receive emails
related to AARP volunteering. Once you confirm that subscription, you will regularly
receive communications related to AARP volunteering. In the meantime, please feel free
to search for ways to make a difference in your community at
www.aarp.org/volunteer